Editing Objects

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Sparkman
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David Sparkman

I create chemical structures in a chemical drawing program. When I copy and
paste one of these into a PP slide, if I'm using PP2002 and I double-click
with the LMB while the Mouse pointer is on the objected, my structure opens
in my chemical drawing program still imbedded in PP. I make my edit, press
the Esc key and all is fine.

In PP2003, under the same conditions, using the same presentation, when I
put the Mouse pointer on the object and double-click the LMB, nothing
happens. Do I have something set wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards;
David
 
I create chemical structures in a chemical drawing program. When I copy and
paste one of these into a PP slide, if I'm using PP2002 and I double-click
with the LMB while the Mouse pointer is on the objected, my structure opens
in my chemical drawing program still imbedded in PP. I make my edit, press
the Esc key and all is fine.

In PP2003, under the same conditions, using the same presentation, when I
put the Mouse pointer on the object and double-click the LMB, nothing
happens. Do I have something set wrong?
Click to expand...

Do you see options for editing/opening the object on the popup menu when you
right-click the object? If PowerPoint recognizes it as an embedded OLE object,
one whose source app is installed on your system, you should see an option
like:

[YourApp] Object

where [YourApp] is the name of the program that created the object. Here, I
see it just beneath "Save as Picture" (I've got Microsoft's jolly little
NowYouSeeMeNowYouDon't Peekaboo Menus feature turned off, FWIW.)

Click that and you should get at least Edit and Open options.

If not, something's amiss. Yeah, well ... you knew that to begin with, though,
right? ;-)

Try embedding some other type of object from an OLE app; try typing a line or
two in WordPad, format it in some oddball font and make it fairly large. Then
select it and copy and close WordPad. Paste into PPT. See if you can
doubleclick that or rightclick, choose WordPad document object, Open or Edit.

If that works but content from your equation app doesn't, I'd consider
uninstalling/reinstalling the equation app.

If the WordPad content won't activate in PPT either, then I'd try a reinstall
of PPT.
 
Steve,

Thanks for your very prompt reply. I had a little difficulty following what
you said. There is a selection on the Right Mouse Button menu, Document
Object went you are pointing to the object to be edited. Pointing to that
selection opens another menu with Edit, Open, and Convert. Selecting Edit
opens the object in my application for editing. Esc then closes the edit
mode.

I am able to accomplish what I want, but is there something I can set that
allows the edit mode to open when I point to the object and double-click on
it? This is the way it was in PP2002. Why doesn't work in PP2003?

Regards;
David

--
O. David Sparkman
Consultant-At-Large
ods no @ spam compuserve.com
Steve Rindsberg said:
I create chemical structures in a chemical drawing program. When I copy and
paste one of these into a PP slide, if I'm using PP2002 and I double-click
with the LMB while the Mouse pointer is on the objected, my structure opens
in my chemical drawing program still imbedded in PP. I make my edit, press
the Esc key and all is fine.

In PP2003, under the same conditions, using the same presentation, when I
put the Mouse pointer on the object and double-click the LMB, nothing
happens. Do I have something set wrong?
Click to expand...

Do you see options for editing/opening the object on the popup menu when you
right-click the object? If PowerPoint recognizes it as an embedded OLE object,
one whose source app is installed on your system, you should see an option
like:

[YourApp] Object

where [YourApp] is the name of the program that created the object. Here, I
see it just beneath "Save as Picture" (I've got Microsoft's jolly little
NowYouSeeMeNowYouDon't Peekaboo Menus feature turned off, FWIW.)

Click that and you should get at least Edit and Open options.

If not, something's amiss. Yeah, well ... you knew that to begin with, though,
right? ;-)

Try embedding some other type of object from an OLE app; try typing a line or
two in WordPad, format it in some oddball font and make it fairly large. Then
select it and copy and close WordPad. Paste into PPT. See if you can
doubleclick that or rightclick, choose WordPad document object, Open or Edit.

If that works but content from your equation app doesn't, I'd consider
uninstalling/reinstalling the equation app.

If the WordPad content won't activate in PPT either, then I'd try a reinstall
of PPT.



-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for your very prompt reply. I had a little difficulty following what
you said. There is a selection on the Right Mouse Button menu, Document
Object went you are pointing to the object to be edited. Pointing to that
selection opens another menu with Edit, Open, and Convert. Selecting Edit
opens the object in my application for editing. Esc then closes the edit
mode.
Click to expand...

It sounds as though you've followed it to the letter, sir.

That it works in the way you've described suggests that the application is
properly registered in Windows, and that it *is* working correctly, at least to
some extent, within PPT.

I've got a document open in PPT 2002 SP1 under Windows 2000 right now; it has
two different OLE embedded objects, one from Corel Draw, another from WordPad,
as described earlier. When I doubleclick either, PPT's menus and toolbars get
replaced by those of the object's "source" app, and I can use the menu items to
edit it. In other words, it seems to be doing the right thing here.

What might be different about our systems then?

Have you updated to Office 2003, SP1? If not, I'd definitely do so.

Assuming you use Windows XP rather than 2000, have you applied the various
service packs? I'm not certain I'd recommend them in all cases; there seem to
be a few oddball problems that arise when you do. If you've applied the
latest/greatest (2? 3? I forget) that might be part of the problem.

Security settings occurred to me but they don't seem to be an issue here; I
just set security to Very High, closed and reopened PPT, opened the test file
again and it allowed me to doubleclick to edit both of the OLE objects, even
though the Draw object has the potential of including macro code.
 
Steve,

I am using Windows 2000. I have all Windows 2000 service packs installed
and I have SP1 for Office 2003. Any other suggestions?

David
 
Steve,

I am using Windows 2000. I have all Windows 2000 service packs installed
and I have SP1 for Office 2003. Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

So our systems are pretty much equivalent except (hold on, let me check) ..
hmm. I'm only up to SP3 on the Windows box. And I don't run NAV or any other
AVware that's allowed to mess with Office. I see Norton's gotten his fingers
into OLE:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q328613

Might that have something to do with it?
 
Steve,

I have both PP 2002 and 2003 on the same computer. The problem of not being
able to double click on an OLE object for editing is ONLY in 2003. It works
in 2002. Is this a bug in 2003 or is there a setting that controls being
able to double-click on an object for editing purposes?

Regards;
David
 
Steve,

I have both PP 2002 and 2003 on the same computer. The problem of not being
able to double click on an OLE object for editing is ONLY in 2003. It works
in 2002. Is this a bug in 2003 or is there a setting that controls being
able to double-click on an object for editing purposes?
Click to expand...

It's apparently not to do with having both computers on the same box; I've got
another machine with 2000, 2002, 2003 and doubleclicking still launches the OLE
inserted objects for in-place editing. But what did you find out about
possible antivirus software problems from that other link?
 
Steve,

That site had nothing to do with Office 2003. The double click works in my
2002 PP. I have the Norton Plug-in disabled. I have disabled Norton all
together, still no edit in PP 2003 on double click.
Regards;
David
 
Steve,

That site had nothing to do with Office 2003.
Click to expand...

I intended to mention that some of the same suggestions would still apply to
2003. In any case, Norton is still a troublemaker and best disabled or at the
very least, remove any fingers he proposes to insert into Office of any flavor.
The double click works in my
2002 PP. I have the Norton Plug-in disabled. I have disabled Norton all
together, still no edit in PP 2003 on double click.
Click to expand...

I'm about out of ideas, other than possibly doing a reinstall of the app in
question to see if that helps reset any registry entries that may have gotten
bunged.
 
Steve,

I don't think reinstall is the answer. If the app did not work in PP2002
you might be correct. The app works in PP 2002 on the same computer.

If anyone else has any ideas, jump in.

Regards;
David
 
Steve,

I don't think reinstall is the answer. If the app did not work in PP2002
you might be correct. The app works in PP 2002 on the same computer.
Click to expand...

One other thought: does the app have any "hooks" into PPT, as addins or the
like? The Office 2003 install can break these when it tries to migrate them
from the existing 2002 or earlier installation. Not that it will necessarily,
but it can.

That's one instance where a reinstall can help.
 
Steve,

I have solved the problem. It was a typical "I can't see the forest for the
trees" thing. I just got a new computer. I copied the file I was having
problems with to the new computer which had PP2003 installed on Win XP Pro.
When I tried to open the file, I got a message that said "This file cannot
be edited because it contains a read-only embedded font." The file would
then be displayed and I could switch to show mode and see all the
animations. But that was it. No matter what I tried, I could not get, add
or delete anything.

I tried to copy a couple of slides from this open presentation into a new
presentation. I placed the blinking line at the bottom of the blank
thumbnail in the edit slide view and then clicked on Edit/Past from the Menu
bar. After several seconds (maybe minutes), some strange icon appeared in
the middle of the slide in the edit slide view. It was an exe file. I left
that with great haste.

I had another file that had been prepared by thinning the first file I was
having problems with. I tried that file on the 2003/XP system and got the
same message when I tried to open the file. I went back to the 2003/Win2000
system, opened the offending file, and also started a new presentation. I
copied the first group of slides (about 20 out of 189) from the offending
file and pasted them below a single slide in the thumbnail column of the
edit slide view that was in the new presentation. I then deleted the blank
first slide. I checked this new file on the 2003/XP system and there was no
problem. I kept adding slides to the new presentation; about 10 or 20 at a
time. Each time I did a test, there was no problem. When I got to the
slide, I had the problem with the double-click to edit; I had no problem
making this work as advertized. I then took the second offending file,
copied ALL the slides, and pasted them below a single blank slide in a new
presentation, and then deleted that single first slide. This presentation
opened with no message and allowed me to do all the editing I wanted,
including ole to my application.

When I tried embedding a new ole object into a file as you suggested and
then double-clicking to edit it, I was using the offending file which, it is
now obvious, was corrupt.

The problem was the FILE. The combination of Windows versions and PP 2002
and PP 2003 reacted differently to the corruption in the presentation file.

This is the type of thing that makes grown men cry and scream and run
half-naked into the cold rain at 3 AM.

Thanks for all your replies and your attemps to help.

Regards;
David
 
I have solved the problem. It was a typical "I can't see the forest for the
trees" thing. I just got a new computer. I copied the file I was having
problems with to the new computer which had PP2003 installed on Win XP Pro.
When I tried to open the file, I got a message that said "This file cannot
be edited because it contains a read-only embedded font." The file would
then be displayed and I could switch to show mode and see all the
animations. But that was it. No matter what I tried, I could not get, add
or delete anything.
Click to expand...

Aha. You should TELL your Uncle Steve these things. ;-)

Here's some more info about that, by the way:

PowerPoint opens presentations as Read-Only, won't allow editing when fonts
embedded
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00637.htm

Since you have 2002 still, try opening the file there and re-saving; don't
embed the fonts this time. Wild guess: you used Arial Black. There's a bug
in 2003 that makes a file open as read-only when AB's embedded unless you also
have AB-Italic installed.

Hey. *I* didn't make it up so don't ask *me* to explain it! ,-)
I tried to copy a couple of slides from this open presentation into a new
presentation. I placed the blinking line at the bottom of the blank
thumbnail in the edit slide view and then clicked on Edit/Past from the Menu
bar. After several seconds (maybe minutes), some strange icon appeared in
the middle of the slide in the edit slide view. It was an exe file. I left
that with great haste.
Click to expand...

PowerPoint won't let you copy stuff from a file that's opened read-only because
of embedded font problems, so my guess is that you pasted in whatever was on
the clipboard from the last copy operation (done by you or possibly by some
other program/addin behind your back).

IAC, I'm VERY glad to hear that you worked out what the problem was.

So tell me. How much hair do you have left?
 
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